The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for providing voice mail sharing between wireless and wired telephones. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for providing voice mail boxes for wired and wireless telephones whereby a single mailbox can be assigned to telephones associated with two different communication systems and a subscriber to the mailbox can be notified of a waiting message over both telephones associated with the mailbox.
Voice mail systems provide advantages in that they allow calling parties and called parties to communicate without establishing a call connection between the two parties. It is well known to provide voice mail capabilities in a wired telephone network. It is also known to provide such capabilities in connection with a wireless telephone network.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of a wireless network in the prior art that provides voice mail services. A wireless telephone 112 communicates with a network 100 via wireless channels associated with base stations 109, 110, and 111. Each such base station is associated with a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 106, 103, and 101 respectively. These MSCs constitute switching points of the wireless communications network. Each MSC is coupled to a Signal Transfer Point (STP) such as elements 102, 105 and 104. A voice mail system or voice messaging system (VMS) can be coupled to one of the MSCs, here, VMS 108 is coupled to MSC 106.
Also in the network is a home location register (HLR) 107 associated with an MSC, here 106, which keeps track of information regarding the wireless network subscribers. HLRs are well known and store information such as the subscriber's mobile identification number and the registration status of the mobile unit. It also contains information about services to which the mobile subscriber has subscribed. Furthermore, it provides information as to how to route calls to a roaming mobile party.
In the example of the prior art shown, assuming that the mobile unit 112 has associated with it a mailbox at VMS 108, an incoming call to 112 can be directed to the VMS in accordance with the subscriber preferences set forth in the HLR, 107. More particularly, a calling party may be forwarded to the VMS 108 when the mobile unit is turned off or not registered within the service area. In this circumstance, the calling party may leave a message with the voice messaging system in a known manner. The subscriber is subsequently provided with a message waiting indicator that informs the subscriber about the existence of a message in the voice mailbox.
In the past it has been a practice to provide voice messaging systems that were exclusively for either wired telephones or wireless telephones.
It would be advantageous to provide a voice messaging system which was integrated with wired and wireless telephones especially since many subscribers now subscribe to both wired and wireless services. It would also be beneficial to have a common mailbox for a party who subscribes to multiple services.